Free 11+ english practice paper to print

11+ English practice paper

28 questions · about 35 minutes · answer every question · nothing is deducted for a wrong answer

Name Date

Let Them Walk

Read this before you answer the questions on it.

Every weekday morning, a queue of stationary cars idles outside my daughter's primary school. Almost all of them contain one adult and one child. Almost all of them have travelled less than a mile.

I understand how this happened. No parent wakes up hoping to sit in a traffic jam two streets from home. Each family made a reasonable decision — the mornings are tight, the roads look dangerous, the weather is British — and the sum of all those reasonable decisions is a road so congested that walking to school now genuinely is more dangerous than it was thirty years ago. We have created the hazard we are protecting our children from.

The case for walking is usually made on health grounds, and the health argument is real. But it is not, I think, the strongest one.

A child who walks to school arrives having already had a conversation, or twenty minutes of silence, or an argument with a friend. They have crossed roads and judged traffic and decided when to run. They have noticed that the horse chestnut on the corner has come out, or that the house with the blue door is being sold. None of this is on any curriculum. All of it is the slow accumulation of knowing where you live and being trusted in it.

A child driven to school has had none of those things, and — this is the part that ought to worry us — has been told something by the arrangement itself: that the half-mile between home and school is a place adults consider too dangerous for them.

I am not arguing that nobody should drive. Some journeys are long, some children cannot walk them, and some mornings defeat everybody. I am arguing that the default has quietly reversed within one generation, and that a default is not a decision. It is worth asking, once, whether yours is still the right one.

The horse chestnut is out, incidentally. It has been for a fortnight.

In this sentence, what word class is "beautifully"? The choir sang beautifully although the hall was freezing.
1. A adverb
2. B preposition
3. C noun
4. D verb
In this sentence, what word class is "patiently"? She waited patiently because the bus was late again.
1. A verb
2. B determiner
3. C conjunction
4. D adverb
Which words complete this sentence correctly? By the time we arrived, the concert ___ already ___.
1. A was already started
2. B had already started
3. C have already started
4. D has already started
Which words complete this sentence correctly? Nobody ___ noticed the mistake before today.
1. A are
2. B have
3. C had
4. D has
Which sentence uses apostrophes correctly?
1. A There are three buses' an hour.
2. B There are three bus's an hour.
3. C There are three buses an hour.
4. D There are three bus'es an hour.
Which is the correct way to write the wool from the sheep (more than one)?
1. A the sheep' wool
2. B the sheep's wool
3. C the sheeps wool
4. D the sheeps' wool
Which sentence uses commas correctly?
1. A The path, which had flooded overnight, was closed.
2. B The path which had flooded overnight, was closed.
3. C The path which had flooded, overnight was closed.
4. D The path, which had flooded overnight was closed.
Which sentence uses commas correctly?
1. A In, the end nobody minded the rain.
2. B In the end nobody, minded the rain.
3. C In the end, nobody minded the rain.
4. D In the end nobody minded the rain.
Which punctuation belongs where the gap is? The castle ___ built in 1320 ___ stands above the harbour.
1. A a semicolon
2. B a full stop
3. C a comma
4. D a pair of brackets
Which sentence punctuates the speech correctly?
1. A Callum shouted, "wait for me!"
2. B Callum shouted, "Wait for me!"
3. C Callum shouted "Wait for me!"
4. D Callum shouted, "Wait for me"!
Which relative pronoun completes this sentence? The woman ___ found my wallet handed it in at the station.
1. A whom
2. B whose
3. C where
4. D who
Which relative pronoun completes this sentence? The boy ___ bag was left behind is in Year Five.
1. A who
2. B whom
3. C where
4. D whose
Which of these sentences is written in the passive voice?
1. A The postman delivered the parcel.
2. B A local farmer rebuilt the dry stone wall.
3. C The museum bought the painting.
4. D The assembly was interrupted by a power cut.
Which of these sentences is written in the passive voice?
1. A The bridge was washed away by the flood.
2. B The head teacher announced the results.
3. C The choir recorded the carol.
4. D Frost cracked the water pipe.
Which word completes this sentence in formal English? If I ___ you, I would apologise now.
1. A had been
2. B were
3. C was
4. D am
Which word or phrase is the most formal way of saying "buy"?
1. A get hold of
2. B snap up
3. C purchase
4. D pick up
Which prefix turns "understand" into its opposite?
1. A disunderstand
2. B irunderstand
3. C imunderstand
4. D misunderstand
Which prefix turns "replaceable" into its opposite?
1. A irreplaceable
2. B unreplaceable
3. C imreplaceable
4. D ilreplaceable
Which word correctly completes this sentence? He ___ the ball further than anyone else.
1. A through
2. B threw
3. C thorough
4. D throw
Which word correctly completes this sentence? ___ going to be late if the bus does not come soon.
1. A Their
2. B They're
3. C There
4. D Theyre
How far have almost all the cars outside the school travelled?
1. A Less than a mile
2. B Exactly half a mile
3. C Two streets
4. D More than a mile
What does the writer mean by "We have created the hazard we are protecting our children from"?
1. A The traffic parents fear is made up largely of other parents driving
2. B The roads were always dangerous and nothing has changed
3. C Children are not taught how to cross roads safely
4. D Schools have been built in dangerous places
Why does the writer admit that the health argument is real, but not the strongest one?
1. A Because the writer does not believe walking is healthy
2. B To fill space before the main point
3. C Because the health argument has been proved wrong
4. D To show fairness before making a different case, which makes the argument harder to dismiss
According to the writer, what does a child who walks to school gain?
1. A A qualification that is part of the curriculum
2. B More time in bed and a shorter journey
3. C Better marks in lessons and improved fitness
4. D Conversation or silence, judgement of traffic, and knowledge of their neighbourhood
The writer says a driven child "has been told something by the arrangement itself". What has it told them?
1. A That adults think the short journey is too dangerous for them to manage
2. B That their parents are too busy to walk with them
3. C That walking is unhealthy
4. D That the school is further away than it looks
Why does the writer say "a default is not a decision"?
1. A Schools should set rules about how pupils arrive
2. B Parents have never thought about how their children travel
3. C Defaults are always wrong and should be changed
4. D Habits get followed without being chosen, and the writer wants readers to choose consciously
What is the effect of the last two lines, about the horse chestnut?
1. A They quietly demonstrate the writer's point by showing something only a walker would notice
2. B They change the subject at the end of the argument
3. C They show that spring has arrived early this year
4. D They prove that the writer walks to school every day
What is the writer's main purpose?
1. A To argue that no parent should ever drive a child to school
2. B To persuade parents to reconsider a habit of driving children short distances
3. C To explain why traffic builds up outside schools
4. D To describe a walk to school in spring

Answers and working

Mark the paper with your child, not for them. The working matters more than the mark — it says which mistake each wrong answer comes from.

A

"beautifully" is an adverb: it describes how, when or where something is done. The test that settles most of these is to try moving or removing the word. Take "beautifully" out and the sentence still works — it was telling you how the action was done. A word's class depends on the job it is doing in that sentence, not on the word itself. "Run" can be a noun or a verb.
D

"patiently" is an adverb: it describes how, when or where something is done. The test that settles most of these is to try moving or removing the word. Take "patiently" out and the sentence still works — it was telling you how the action was done. Adverbs very often end in -ly, but not always: "fast", "soon" and "here" are adverbs too.
B

"had already started" is correct. The sentence needs the past perfect, because one thing happened before another thing that is itself in the past. The past perfect is what puts the two in order. Watch the subject as well as the tense: a singular subject takes "has", a plural one takes "have", and getting that agreement wrong is the commonest way to lose the mark even when the tense is right. Check whether the subject is singular or plural before choosing between has and have.
D

"has" is correct. The sentence needs the present perfect, because the action started in the past and still matters now. That is what the present perfect is for. Watch the subject as well as the tense: a singular subject takes "has", a plural one takes "have", and getting that agreement wrong is the commonest way to lose the mark even when the tense is right. Look for a time word — "since", "already", "by the time", "every morning". It usually tells you the tense.
C

"There are three buses an hour." is the correct version. This is a plain plural. An apostrophe never makes a word plural. An apostrophe only ever does one of two jobs: it marks a missing letter, or it shows that something belongs to someone. If it is doing neither, it should not be there. Ask what the apostrophe is for. Missing letter, or ownership? If neither, take it out.
B

"the sheep's wool" is correct. "sheep" is already plural without an s on the end, so it is treated like a singular owner: apostrophe, then s. This is the group that catches people out, because the rule sounds like it should not apply. Leaving the apostrophe out altogether turns it into a plain plural, which is the commonest error of the four. An apostrophe never makes something plural. Two dogs, not two dog's.
A

"The path, which had flooded overnight, was closed." is correct. The relative clause is extra information, so it is fenced off with a comma at each end. Commas are not sprinkled where a reader might pause for breath; each one is doing a specific job, and the ones in the wrong answers are placed where no job exists. Cover the part between the commas. If what is left still makes a whole sentence, the commas are right.
C

"In the end, nobody minded the rain." is correct. A short fronted adverbial still takes a comma after it. Commas are not sprinkled where a reader might pause for breath; each one is doing a specific job, and the ones in the wrong answers are placed where no job exists. A comma dropped in for a pause is nearly always wrong. Ask what job it is doing.
D

The gap takes a pair of brackets. They hold information the sentence could do without entirely. The quickest test for a colon or semicolon is to look at what stands on each side: a semicolon needs a complete sentence on both sides, while a colon needs one only on its left. If you can replace the mark with a full stop and nothing breaks, a semicolon will usually work too.
B

The correct version is Callum shouted, "Wait for me!" A comma introduces the speech, the first spoken word takes a capital letter, and the exclamation mark sits inside the inverted commas. The rule underneath all of these is that every mark belonging to the spoken words goes inside the inverted commas, and the reporting clause — said, asked, whispered — is part of the same sentence, so it does not start with a capital letter. Start the spoken words with a capital, even in the middle of a sentence — unless the speech is continuing from before.
D

"who" is the one that fits, because the missing word refers to a person doing the finding. A relative clause is a subordinate clause that describes a noun, and the relative pronoun is the hinge that joins it on. Choosing between them is mostly a question of what the noun is: a person, a thing, a place, a time, or something owned. "That" can replace "who" or "which" when the clause is essential — but not when it is set off with commas.
D

"whose" is the one that fits, because the bag belongs to the boy. A relative clause is a subordinate clause that describes a noun, and the relative pronoun is the hinge that joins it on. Choosing between them is mostly a question of what the noun is: a person, a thing, a place, a time, or something owned. "Whom" is the object form. If you could answer with "him" rather than "he", it is whom.
D

"The assembly was interrupted by a power cut." is passive. The thing the action was done to has been moved to the front, and the sentence uses a form of "to be" — "was" — followed by a past participle. The person doing it arrives late, after "by", and in a passive sentence can be left out altogether. The active version is "A power cut interrupted the assembly.", where the doer comes first. The passive is not a worse way of writing; it is the right choice when the doer is unknown or unimportant, which is why reports and news writing use it constantly. The passive is useful when you do not know who did it, or when it does not matter.
A

"The bridge was washed away by the flood." is passive. The thing the action was done to has been moved to the front, and the sentence uses a form of "to be" — "was" — followed by a past participle. The person doing it arrives late, after "by", and in a passive sentence can be left out altogether. The active version is "The flood washed away the bridge.", where the doer comes first. The passive is not a worse way of writing; it is the right choice when the doer is unknown or unimportant, which is why reports and news writing use it constantly. The passive is useful when you do not know who did it, or when it does not matter.
B

"were" is the formal form, because this is an imagined situation rather than a real one, and the subjunctive uses "were" for every subject. The subjunctive turns up in a small number of places — after "if" when the situation is imaginary, and after verbs like insist, demand, suggest and require — and it looks odd precisely because it is rare in speech. In everyday conversation the other options would pass unnoticed; a paper is asking for the formal written form. "Would of" is never correct. It is "would have", misheard.
C

"purchase" is the formal choice. The other three are all perfectly good English and all of them belong in conversation rather than in a letter, a report or an exam answer. A useful signal: informal English leans on phrasal verbs — a verb plus a little word like up, out or off — while formal English usually has a single word that does the same job. "buy" is a phrasal verb; "purchase" is its single-word equivalent. Slang dates quickly and marks writing as casual instantly. Leave it out of a formal piece.
D

"misunderstand" is the right form. The prefix "mis-" means "wrongly", and it is used where the action is done wrongly rather than not done at all. A prefix never changes the spelling of the word it joins — "understand" keeps every letter. "il-" before l, "ir-" before r, "im-" before m, b and p, and "in-" everywhere else. That covers most of them.
A

"irreplaceable" is the right form. The prefix "ir-" means "not", and it is chosen by the letter that follows it: "il-" before l, "ir-" before r, "im-" before m, b and p. "replaceable" begins with "r", so "ir-" is the one that fits. These three are really the same prefix as "in-", changed to make the word easier to say. A prefix never changes the spelling of the word it joins — "replaceable" keeps every letter. Prefixes are added to the front and change nothing. Suffixes are added to the end and often do.
B

"threw" is the one that fits, because the sentence needs the word meaning the past tense of throw. The other options are real words that sound similar or nearly so, which is exactly why they are here. The apostrophe in a contraction stands for the missing letter, not for possession.
B

"They're" is the one that fits, because the sentence needs the word meaning they are. The apostrophe is doing a job here: it marks the missing letter where two words have been pushed together. Say the two words in full and the sentence still makes sense, which is the test. The apostrophe in a contraction stands for the missing letter, not for possession.
A

The opening paragraph states it: "Almost all of them have travelled less than a mile." The half-mile appears later as the distance between home and school in a different sentence, and "two streets" describes where the jam is, not how far the cars have come.
A

The paragraph builds to this: each family drives because the roads look dangerous, and the driving is what makes them dangerous. It is a circle, and the sentence names it. The writer is careful not to blame anyone — every individual decision is called "reasonable" — which makes the point land harder.
D

Conceding a point you are not going to rely on is a standard move in persuasive writing: it signals that you are weighing evidence rather than collecting anything that helps. Having granted the obvious argument, the writer is freer to spend the rest of the piece on the less obvious one.
D

The fourth paragraph lists them: a conversation or silence or an argument, crossing roads and judging traffic, noticing the horse chestnut and the house with the blue door. The writer then says explicitly that "none of this is on any curriculum", so the option mentioning a qualification is the opposite of the passage.
A

The sentence answers itself: "that the half-mile between home and school is a place adults consider too dangerous for them." The writer's point is that this message is delivered without anybody saying it, by the arrangement rather than in words — which is why they call it the part that ought to worry us.
D

The whole final paragraph is a narrowing of the claim. The writer is not saying driving is wrong — they list three cases where it is right — only that doing something because it is what one does is different from having decided it. The request is modest and precise: "It is worth asking, once."
A

The horse chestnut appeared earlier as an example of what a walking child notices. Bringing it back as a real observation — and adding "for a fortnight", which you could only know by passing it repeatedly — makes the argument concrete without restating it. The word "incidentally" pretends it is an afterthought, which is the joke.
B

The piece is an argument, and the final paragraph states the limits of the claim clearly: "I am not arguing that nobody should drive." That rules out the strongest option. Explaining the traffic and describing the walk are both means to the persuasive end rather than the purpose itself.